


one heartbite after another

by surestsmile



Category: Kamen Rider Den-O
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-04
Updated: 2012-09-04
Packaged: 2017-11-13 13:25:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surestsmile/pseuds/surestsmile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Momotaros isn't sure how much more he can take.</p>
            </blockquote>





	one heartbite after another

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after Saraba Den-O. I'm not entirely sure if I want to take the Episode movies as canon, given that as much as I love Mizoguchi, Sato's shoes are just too big to fill and it has never been the same.

Momotaros knew that it would take a while before everyone calmed down and stopped checking Ryoutarou over and over for any oddities sustained on the ghost train. He left them to it because he knew that he would just be in the way, and no one could really stop the bratling from fussing until he's done. The incessant whining about Koutarou gave Momotaros a headache though; in the end he slipped out of the dining car and into one of the compartments in the adjoining sleeper cars.

It's been some time since they were caught up in such excitment, and while Shiro's half-assed plans to ruin time were successfully thwarted, Momotaros could feel the buried irritation bubbling up in the wake of relief. The ease at which Ryoutarou had been kidnapped niggled at him, because Ryoutarou ought to have known better than to let his guard down, especially when they knew that there were still remnants of Imagin rampaging around.

He didn't want to get into an argument with Ryoutarou there and then though, which was why he's hiding in one of the bunks, curtained in cool darkness. The thoughts that had been kept behind were spilling out now; Shiro's the closest he's ever got to losing Ryoutarou, and somehow it's even more terrifying than the time where Ryoutarou's lost his memory of him. 

And Momotaros didn't really know why he's feeling that way, when he knew that since Ryoutarou had a grandson who knew him, it would have meant that Ryoutarou lived 'til sixty, seventy, perhaps even eighty. It's a good age for a human, Momotaros knew, but he's still...scared, in the end.

Mortality wasn't something he often gave thought to, even though his fellow Imagin had (died) faded at least once. He's not scared of dying either, not even when he was being sliced to ribbons by Ryoutarou's own hand; if he had to die in order to save Ryoutarou, then so be it. But life without his contractor, it hadn't been something Momotaros thought about until now.

"Momotaros?" Ryoutarou's soft voice jerked him from his thoughts. He half thought not to answer Ryoutarou, the anger was still there, smouldering underneath, but then Ryoutarou repeated his name again, so he pushed the curtain aside. 

"I'm here."

Ryoutarou's smile was a little tired around the edges, and he waited a little before Momotaros realized that he had to move and gesture for Ryoutarou to sit down. His contractor fiddled with the edge of his shirt before he sucked in one deep breath, as though bracing for something.

"You shouldn't have done that," Ryoutarou said, uncertainity in his tone, but Momotaros couldn't help his hackles rising.

"I did what I had to do," he answered finally, anger leaking in his voice. "I...we couldn't reach you. And we were running out of time." He clenched his fists, and tried to fit in a cocksure smile. "Besides, I know you. I knew you would-"

"But what if I couldn't?" Ryoutarou interrupted. "What if I didn't wake up at all, or in time, what if-" His voice broke and he bowed his head, hands clenched tight. "I was so close to losing you."

"Pah!" Momotaros said, loud and derisive and it felt _good_ , expelling all that frustration in a single sound. Maybe he could actually get through this conversation without losing his temper. "Like I'd die that easy. Besides, I'm just sand, I'll come back somehow. You're more important than I am, you're human, you'd _die_ -" He's babbling, and somehow it's worse, this spilling of words. He'd rather be angry, than to be this _weak_.

"Momotaros..."

He couldn't ask this of Ryoutarou, he can't, because Ryoutarou's still Den-O and things will happen to him on account of his luck, but Momotaros tried anyway. "Don't do this again," he said, voice rough. "Stop leaving us."

Ryoutarou's smell was close and comforting, and there's a hand patting the top of his head. "I can't promise anything," Ryoutarou said, but he leaned in and gave his Imagin a hug.


End file.
